Bare trees reflected in Joe Pool Lake at Cedar Hill State Park, Arlington, TX.
I am interested in thoughts about the composition of this image. I know what I am not crazy about and am curious about the opinions others may have. Any other thoughts or critiques are also welcome.
Canon EOS R
4 Sec. @ f9
200mm, ISO 100
CPL, and 10 STP ND
Lovely lighting on the trunks - gives that three dimensional feeling even in the soft reflections. As far as an abstract, I would perhaps not include the upper “real” parts of the tree. For me, that gives this context, diminishing the abstracted-ness. Those branch reflections in the URC are a bit distracting, touching the frame as they are. If there were some on the left, also, they wouldn’t matter, but the openness of the left vs. the “filled-in” nature of the right makes this unbalanced for me. Still, the light and the colors are just lovely.
If it was possible to step left a little and aim right, maybe the branches in the UR could have been included better (se easy to say from here…) and the left wouldn’t be quite as empty.
But this is an intriguing mix of an ICM and a still shot. I assume the sharp ares must have been added in post with another “still” layer? I agree with @Bonnie_Lampley about cropping off the realistic area at the top and going with the blur – I think it is lovely and can hold up very well with the mystery not revealed.
Hi Todd, this is a lovely image with some wonderful light. As others have noted, I would recommend cropping tighter on the reflection so help create a more abstract image. After cropping, may I suggest flipping the image and seeing how that looks?
Todd,
A beautiful reflection image. I especially like the warm and beautiful light striking the base of the tree - and that light being reflected.
I would agree with the comment that including the tree above the water pretty much takes away any abstract presentation - but doesn’t diminish this as simply a terrfic reflection image.
I can tell that you had to deal with the far shoreline in your crop and/or framing decision as it’s apparent there is a shoreline up top based on the reflections up there.
I think as presented, the only suggestion I have would be a small crop up from the bottom, say about 10% or so? I think the softer reflections and darker reflected objects could be removed. Plus as a personal preference I don’t care for the tall format.
Really enjoying the light and colors with this one and there’s enough surface movement for a pleasing softness to the reflection.
Thanks for sharing!
Lon
Hey Todd, nice eye here - I think this might work better with ONLY the reflection in the frame… maybe try it out =)
Also not sure what your logic was for using the CPL.
Thank you all for the input. Most of you have confirmed my fear that the top right is too busy. Lon, you are 100% correct, the shoreline was UGLY, so I just cropped it out in camera. Matt, the CPL did very little really, I just threw it on to see if it would help pop the colors, but mostly it just cut out another stop of light. This was one of those moments when the light was SO GREAT, and moving so fast. I wanted this shot to be better, but I felt so rushed.
Thanks again for the feedback. Much appreciated.
